Un-freakin'-believable!

I almost fell out of my chair today when I was reading a update e-mail from Ticketmaster...Dream Theater is coming to Reading! READING!! 8 years of fighting sleep on the drive home from a show, and they finally decide to play somewhere that's within walking distance of my house! And to think, before this little miracle happened, I was thinking of skipping this tour for lack of funds! Guess I'd better make some spare change available. Unfortunately there's no chance for a meet-and-greet at this show, not unless something happens between then and now, but maybe I'll have to get a job at the Sovereign Center in the next two months...

A take on Alice's book meme

Music/albums that meant the most to you as a child. Why?

Well, The Rescuers album I kept playing over and over in my room...other than that, any 45 that my Dad bought and played in the living room. The first person to influence me in my choices of music. As for the teen years, it was Billy Joel, Howard Jones, The Hooters, and hair metal...ah, those were the days...

Music/albums that mean a lot to you now (at this moment in your life). Why?

Every Dream Theater album from '92 on...I think because their music is heavy and very dramatic, which appeals to me in my mostly drama-free life. "All Hopped Up" by Dominic Gaudious...great instrumentals for those more relaxed days. And basically anything else I'm in the mood for, you see.

Music currently on the go/on the chairside table, ready to be played?

Well, as for on the go, it gets changed over every 3 weeks or so...I need my variety! On the table:

Dali's Dilemma - Manifesto for Futurism
Neal Schon - I on U
Uriah Heep - Return to Fantasy
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
Dominic Gaudious - The Clearing
Fates Warning - Disconnected
Yes - Close To The Edge
George Carlin - You Are All Diseased

5 or more albums you would never part with?

5? Oh, I don't think so...that's not nearly enough. I'd drop rations and make room for about 15:

Dream Theater - all of them (that counts as 1)
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Grey
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
Rush - Hemispheres
Ben Folds - Rockin' The Suburbs
Spock's Beard - The Kindness of Strangers, or Snow
Billy Joel - Turnstiles
Yes - Fragile or The Yes Album
Dominic Gaudious - Acoustic Captivity
Tears For Fears -Raoul and the Kings of Spain
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Enchant - Blink Of An Eye
Tiles - Presents of Mind
Savatage - The Wake of Magellan
Queensryche - Empire or Operation:Mindcrime or Q2K

Ok, so it's more like 20, sue me.

Favorite songs? Why?

Way too many, really. There's prog metal stuff, like Dream Theater's "Scarred" or Fates Warning's "Monument", or weird rock jazz hybrid stuff like Soul Coughing's "Super Bon-Bon" (hey, I didn't name it), or really mellow like Howard Jones' "Out Of Thin Air". Just all kinds of great music out there.

Musician(s) you once loved but have totally grown out of? Why?

Def Leppard. My tastes have changed since their heyday and their songwriting direction has definitely gotten sappier. And Poison...geez, to believe I once thought they were really good...what a fool I was. I don't really think there's anybody else.

Album you've quoted or recommended the most?

Quoted? Hardly. I quote movies like a dork (just ask Alice...I think she'll know) Recommended? Dream Theater's "Metropolis: Scenes From a Memory". It's more than just music...it's a production.

Album that totally reconfigured your idea of what music could be?

Get ready, I'm going to mention Dream Theater again (yeah, what a shocker there). It was back in 1992 and although I hate to say it, I have to credit eMpTyV for giving me my first DT experience. I was watching Headbanger's Ball on a Saturday night and saw the video for "Pull Me Under". Visually it wasn't much to speak of...just the band and some confusing imagery (like the burning heart wrapped in barbed wire). But the song stuck in the back of my mind somewhere and something like 2 months later I saw this album in The Wall, and I said to myself, "I think this is that band I saw back on the Ball whenever. Oh, well, even if it's not, I'll give it a shot." I bought it, and was blown away by it. I'd never heard music that could be so heavy and yet also so melodic and powerful. It made 80's hair metal sound like my nephews banging on any toy they could find. I was hooked and it was a jumping point to so much great music.

What, if anything, is lacking in contemporary music today?

Longevity. Maybe I never noticed as much when I was younger, but it seems like there are so many "throw away" acts out there today. Call them one-hit wonders, two-hit wonders, or whatever, but they're here and gone and it's on to the next one. Yes, there's plenty of talented acts out there who've been doing what they're doing for 30+ years, whether I like them or not, and the ones who've been around for about a decade will eventually become part of the 30+ club, because what they write and play continues to work. I probably just pay more attention than I used to do.

Question of your choice:

Will I ever stop expanding my musical horizons?

Oh hell no!

You try to help somebody...

And you're almost the only one who will. I was driving home from buying clothes for my nephew's birthday today and there was this Plymouth Reliant stopped in the middle of Buttonwood Street, not a good place to be stuck with the amount of traffic that street sees. The driver's shouting out the window at every car that's driving by him, and it was obvoius he wasn't going anywhere soon, but of course, most everybody just kept on going...probably thought there was something wrong with him from his shouting. I pull onto a side street, and go over to him as some lady was already asking him what was wrong. Another guy stopped, and the three of us pushed him onto the side street. I gave him a ride to make a phone call, as it was on my way home anyway, and listened to him explain how his parents died, he lost his job, somebody robbed him of everything he owned, and how he needed the car to get a sales job in Lancaster, of all places. Dressed the way he was, he'd be lucky to get a job anywhere, but he was very polite and very thankful, if a little off. I guess people can have any number of problems that might keep them from really taking care of themselves, and maybe what he told me about himself was the full truth, who knows. It just made me wonder how someone gets in such a state.

Octavarium

I've listened to the new Dream Theater album 4 times since I bought it last week, and it gets better with every listen. I've heard some fans gripe about the album on the newsgroup..."It could've sounded better, or they should've done this or that, but, but, I still like it..." Yeah, screw off. If you don't have anything nice to say (yeah, right, this is the Internet)...

Anyway, the drummer wrote a particularly scathing song about the 1% of extreme DT fans who complain about everything they've done since Images And Words from '92. It's called "Never Enough" and it's biting. And Mike's the most fan-friendly guy in the band, so you know it had to take a lot for him to pen those lyrics. But I think because it has a direct message, and as always, the music was written to reflect it, it's a great song. There's always dramatic music on their albums, and this one is no different. Mike also wrote an angry song to his stepfather, "Honor Thy Father", on the last album and it was my favorite simply because of its intensity. The music was angry, the message was angry, and it's the meanest I've ever heard them get. With age comes maturity, and long-time issues find their outlet (including the songs dealing with the 12 steps, which have spanned the last 3 albums. Think Rush's 4-song "Fear").

So I still haven't seen Episode 3, but I'm all set to watch Hercules Unchained here in a few minutes...you just know I'll be writing about that one later. Keep it real, Homeys!

Remakes, remakes, remakes

Oh, and be prepared people...Miami Vice, The Dukes Of Hazzard, and The Honeymooners are all coming to a theater near you (I think the last one is out already). Can't leave well enough alone, can ya, you movie-studio pricks!

Long train running somewhere other than Reading

I've got one week of classes left for the spring term and I was more adaptable to returning to school than I originally thought I would be. I'll end up with an A in both Philosophy and Geography, and I start Chemistry after a week off. I have yet to see Episode 3, but hopefully soon. I see they've finished the field at the new Albright Stadium, which is exactly where the old stadium used to be. Well, it will be once they start constructing the bleachers and whatnot. I am eagerly awaiting the release of the new Dream Theater album (on Tuesday the 7th)...I've heard nothing but good things about it, since like any other album it was somehow leaked early. I had to laugh when I read from the DT newsgroup that some people thought they had downloaded the new album and listened to it, wondering why all the songs were around 5:30 in length, only to find out they had actually downloaded the singer's last solo album, which has been out for about a year now. All people who would've bought the cd anyway, but it still made me laugh at them. And The Life Aquatic is a must-see. Rent it today!